Grab. Ugh.

[CorkBottlePink]

AIBU to really dislike the way that 'grab' has become an acceptable verb, when it's an actually quite an aggressive action.

Today, I've heard
"Gonna grab a coffee"
"Grabbin me bag"
"Just stopped to grab some food".

Ugh.

Do you also think 'forgotten' is awful?

Because disliking one but not the other seems unjustified.

So rude!

So, I'm just going to pop in to grab a coffee..
🤣🤣

Me too,I find it very aggressive sounding.

What I dislike about 'grab' is the way it gives the impression the speaker is so impossibly busy they cannot possibly just 'make', 'buy' or 'pick up' the coffee or whatever.

Tom Archer on 'The Archers' says it all the time, and it's another reason I enjoy hating him.

I am with you OP. I dislike all the "jolly minimising" verbs though :

Jump on a call
Hop on the train
Pop to the shops
Bung it in the oven

I suggest returning to the 1960s and instead of pop or nip to the shops, you join me and "groove on down" to the shops 😁

Unless you are actually grabbing, it sounds awful.

Love this thread. It's very interesting because we hear and pick up all these expressions from so many places, tv, social media, work, kids. I agree with almost all, grab being my current bugbear. There are even "grab bags". 🤷‍♂️

Now that sounds like an event 😁

It annoys me, too, OP.

I think the 'grab' habit is part of a subconscious attempt to seem dynamic, important and super-active. You're just so busy, so in demand, people to see and places to go etc, that you can only grab a break.

I also wince when people say they're 'running late' instead of just late. I've tried to work out just what it is that annoys me and I can't. Perhaps it seems to absolve the person of responsibility for being late by implying it's out of their control?? I don't know.

And why do people 'pitch up' or 'rock up' to places? What's wrong with just arriving or getting there? Grrr. I think these are supremely annoying and pretentious. What do they even mean? Are they an attempt to make the users seem exciting and edgy, perhaps? They really jar with me.

I'm in, i like that.
🕺

Ha ha!

Yes - minimising - such as 'running up' a dress on the sewing machine, or 'rinsing through' your clothes.

Both expressions make what are (for me) tedious and demanding chores sound like a breeze. See also 'whipping up' a dessert.

riverislanjeans · 19/05/2025 21:17
I always say this 😂
My mum says ‘I’ll take the salmon’ for example. I really hate that

I wonder if that's a Scottish idiom, though. I say that because I'm a huge fan of 'Two Doors Down', set in a Glasgow suburb, where the long-suffering Beth's awful neighbours are always flopping down on her sofa and saying 'I'll take a cup of tea, Beth' or 'I'll take a whisky, Beth', as if they're doing her a favour instead of imposing.

Wearing. That irks me

wearing x bag
wearing the baby

there was another one the other day that annoyed me so much I had to put it out of my mind before I exploded ! I did such a good job , I now can't remember what it was. It was absolutely ridiculous though.

"Grab" can be reasonable - for example, if you accidentally walked out of your house without your handbag you might "run in and grab" it, and saying so indicates to whoever hears you that you'll be very quick. But grabbing a coffee seems like it would always be a recipe for pain and injury - or at least mess, if it's an iced coffee.

And 'it's giving' ... Woman has pretty feminine dress... 'It's giving 1950s.' Man has a cool 1980s haircut and suit ... 'it's giving David Bowie.' ARGH! This construction at least makes some sense if you silently add "vibes" or similar on the end. But it's morphed again into an intransitive verb, e.g., "Oh, I love that necklace; it's sooooo giving!!" Huh?

My hated overused phrase of the moment is "I'm obsessed with" to mean "I like". E.g., "The Zara sale was amazing; I'm obsessed with everything I got!" or "I was so obsessed with that purple tweed jacket, but it didn't fit me so I didn't buy it" or "If you like gourmand fragrances, I guarantee you'll be obsessed with Yum Bougie Marshmallow!!"

Similar to this, on all the Gordon Ramsey Kitchen Nightmare programmes where the customers are ordering from the menu, they say "I'll DO the salmon" or "I'll DO the pasta alfredo" 😫 can't you just have it? 😂

Don’t see the issue. I use it often. I don’t find it aggressive to say ‘I’ll just grab my bag’ if my Dh is driving us to the shops, for example.

Yes. Obsessed with blah blah blah.

and just chilling with this one.

I blame instagram and Tik tok

There are lots of verb reworkings that I'm struggling to come to terms with. Mostly social media related eg
A podcast has landed.
But as someone correctly said. Language is a living thing and constantly evolving.